Peter Alexander (Rand Afrikaans University), "South Africa's 'Great Miners' Strike' of 1987"

In August1987, South Africa's National Union of Mine Workers initiated a three-week strike that involved 340,000 mineworkers. In terms of days lost, it was by far the largest stoppage in the country's history.

Two major issues are raised, both of which are considered in the paper. First, given that the strike occurred two years into a state of emergency and ended with hundreds of injuries and arrests and the dismissal of 50,000 strikers, what does it show us about the challenges and prospects of success for trade union mobilisation in conditions of a high level of state and employer repression? Secondly, since the strike was linked to a general mood of anti-apartheid insurgency, and, though defeated, contributed to the demise of the old racial order, what is the relationship between industrial organisation and political resistance? This second question, in particular, provides opportunities for engagement with a considerable body of literature, including Rosa Luxemburg's dated yet insightful Mass Strike.

Having provided a chronology of the strike, the paper examines its significance, achieving this partly by comparison with the two other big African miners' strikes, 1920 and 1946, on both of which the author has previously published. It also examines the strike's impact on 'traditional' practices, such as the use of 'muti' (medicines thought to have special powers), man-to-man sex, 'tribal' dancing, and accommodation in single-sex hostels. Research draws on interviews with ordinary workers undertaken as part of a long-term project on South Africa's coal industry, as well as new interviews with leaders of the strike and contemporary reports.